From A Stone's Throw Away
by SurrealToad
Summary: ...Except the stone was thrown by Ike, so its over a mile away. A collection of Fire Emblem Lords interacting with the students of the Officers Academy.


_**The premise of this story is the interaction between the Lords of the previous titles and the students at the Officers Academy. For each chapter, there is an interaction between the "Lord" and just a single student, just as it would occur during a support.**_

_**The point of this to explore the shared values and mete out the disagreements between them and hopefully it comes to a point of understanding.**_

_**So, who are the two lucky participants for this first little adventure?**_

_**Well, two people that really shouldn't get along.**_

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_Obvious spoilers ahead. This is the final warning._

_._

_.._

…

_Let's Begin._

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Chapter 1: The Radiant Hero and the Flame Princess

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_**Spiderweb - FE:3H OST**_

It was a small error. A mistake that not even the Princess noticed herself as she stepped into the guard of her opponent, leaning just slightly off her center of balance to land a diagonal chop.

But her opponent was the Vanguard. And the war hero had taken down his enemies who were at the pinnacle of perfection.

Ike's axe slammed into hers, immediately putting her on the backfoot.

"Yield," he spoke quietly, the blade of his training axe strained against hers.

"I-I refuse!" She yelled back.

"Fine." Ike stepsided, letting Edelgard take a step forward. Just as she regained her balance, his foot kicked out and slammed her weapon onto the training ground, ripping it from her grasp.

A moment later, the Princess found the blade pressed up her neck.

"Your loss."

For a moment she remained tense, but then Edelgard let out a sigh and relaxed.

"My loss."

This type of result was already a common occurrence. That Ike would be the last one standing no matter the combat style-except for Magic, which was about the only thing he was unskilled at. Everyone who challenged him to a fight, up to and including both Catherine and Jeritza, was defeated. Soundly.

He fought like a man firmly entrenched in the frontlines of a battlefield, holding nothing back. Whether it was his swordsmanship, spearmanship, axefaire, brawling and grappling… Nothing could stop him.

And Professor Ike had no inborn advantages. He didn't have a crest, nor did he possess any type of noble standing. In fact, according to him, the Professor had worked up to a title in his homeland only to discard it to return to his own mercenary corps.

He was undeniably talented. But in the world they lived in, his aptitude would be passed up for someone more "suitable"-someone with a crest. His achievements would be overshadowed by the fact that he had no heritage to speak of, and would fade from history.

Nonetheless, she was happy he was with the Black Eagles.

"Edelgard," her professor roused her from her thoughts. He was holding out her axe, handle pointed away from him.

_**Calm Winds Over Gentle Waters - FE:3H OST**_

"Ah. My apologies." Edelgard took back her weapon, giving it a quick once-over. Unsurprisingly, there was a groove where Ike's axe dug into the shaft, but it was otherwise still serviceable. "I was lost in thought for a while."

"We were having a spar, Edelgard. The battlefield is no place for idle thoughts and same goes for practice."

"I know," she said. "It's just… You don't change for anyone, do you?"

"What do you mean?"

"You treat everyone the same. Whether it's me or Dorothea or Professor Hanneman, you don't change your mannerisms nor do you address us differently?"

"Is that a problem? I can call you "Miss Edelgard" if you'd prefer."

"No, there's no need to go that far for me. But hasn't that harmed your work as a mercenary? Nobles are often picky about the way they are addressed, after all."

"That's true," he said, reaching to scratch his head, "but if an employer makes a big deal out of something that small, that's already a red flag for a job and I have to put it back into consideration. When I was leading the Greil Mercenaries, we would always do a consultation before taking on a contract, so running into that situation was few and far between."

"Doesn't that slow down your workflow?"

"Yes, it does. But even if it means taking more time, it's worth every second. Mercenaries always have power in the situation. Otherwise, they would exist-the noble's personal army or militia would do our work instead. So meeting the contractors personally beforehand works both as reassurance for contractors and as a way to preemptively prevent abuse."

"And if the contract goes awry?"

"Then we could afford to deal with whatever comes our way. The same goes for any mercenary group of a certain renown. Just look at Jeralt's mercenaries. They did the same thing and now most of them are under the employment of the Church. When it comes to mercenary work, it's all about management. How many people are willing to work on this job? What kind of job are we doing? How long will it take to get done? Those questions and more are what runs through a mercs head when considering a job."

"Huh," Edelgard supported her head with her hand. "That doesn't seem all that different from leading a country."

"That's right," Ike said. "As a close friend of mine once said, 'the principles of leadership apply to all groups, both large and small.' Being a mercenary just means having more freedom, along with increased risks."

"As the heir to the throne of the Adrestian Empire, I must excel in all forms of leadership, including the dynamics within mercenary groups."

"Perhaps you would be interested in joining mercenary crew for a while? Maybe for a week or two?"

"That would be quite the novel experience."

"Then I'll give Rhea a request. I think this will be a good learning experience for you. And maybe for the rest of the house, too."

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**Ike and Edelgard's support level is now C!**

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_**So, let's get into it.**_

_**A support conversation between Edelgard and Ike, lords of immense potential and strength but utterly different worldviews and morals. One has their beliefs rooted in the mindset of not letting the sacrifices of those around them be meaningless, even if it means helping those that caused that suffering in the first place (at least for a while), and the other is someone who holds all life as valuable, made all the more precious with every person he had to cut down.**_

_**Edelgard starts a war to end a dystopian status quo while Ike fights to prevent one. But what Ike is fighting against is exactly what Edelgard wants. So the two come into conflict; neither is right or wrong (although I would argue in Tellius, Ike is in the right).**_

_**Why not have them talk to one another? That would be pretty cool.**_

_**I'll admit, it's been a while since I've played Path of Radiance or Radiant Dawn, so I'm not sure how accurately I captured Ike's voice, but I'm fairly certain I captured Edelgard's.**_

_**Ike is in his mid-twenties, so it's a couple years after he killed Ashera and left the continent behind. Byleth still exists. And Hanneman was able to fully focus on his crest research instead of teaching.**_

_**Yay.**_

_**That's all from me folks!**_

_**Hope you enjoyed!**_


End file.
